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Features September 2019 Issue

A Visual in IMC

Garmin’s new visual approaches can be a big help in VMC into an unfamiliar airport or at night. But, if you’re having a bad day, they can also be your last resort.

By Luca Bencini-Tibo

Let’s consider a situation. We are flying over the Florida Everglades in low IMC. Our alternator just died, which clearly counts as an emergency in IMC. So, we must land. Now! Wind is blowing from the west at 25 knots and we are close to Dade-Collier Transition and Training Airport (KTNT). Although it used to have three approaches to Runway 9—an ILS, an NDB and an RNAV—the only one now available is the RNAV (GPS) RWY 9 approach. With that wind, we certainly will not be landing on Runway 9, even though the runway is 10,500-feet long.

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